Ski boot toe fixture

ABSTRACT

A ski boot toe fixture comprises a base adapted to be fixed on the upper surface of a ski, a turnable member holding a ski boot toe, a press connecting means connecting the base and the turnable member by resilient pressure, a boot toe holding top covering member and a second press connecting member connecting the boot toe holding member and the turnable member. The turnable member is arranged on the base to turn relative to the base around a vertical pin. The ratio of the space between the vertical pin and the second press connecting means to the space between the boot toe and the vertical pin is adjustable by an adjusting means.

Iizuka et al.

[ June 25, 1974 SKI BOOT TOE FIXTURE Inventors: Tokutaro lizuka;Yoshinari Mochizuki, both of Tokyo, Japan Assignee: Hope KabushikiKaisha, Tokyo,

Japan Filed: Mar. 2, 1973 Appl. No.: 337,629

Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 93,232, Nov. 25, 1970,Pat. No.

Marker 280/1 1.35 T

3,671,053 6/1972 Smolka 2230/1135 T Primary Examiner-Robert R. SongAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Eliot S. Gerber 5 7] ABSTRACT A ski boot toefixture comprises a base adapted to be fixed on the upper surface of aski, a turnable member holding a ski boot toe, a press connecting meansconnecting the base and the tumable member by resilient pressure, a boottoe holding top covering member and a second press connecting memberconnecting the boot toe holding member and the turnable member. Theturnable member is arranged. on the base to turn relative to the basearound a vertical pin. The ratio of the space between the vertical pinand the second press connecting means to the space between the boot toeand the vertical pin is adjustable by an adjusting means.

2 Claims, Drawing Figures SKI BOOT TOE FIXTURE This application is adivisional of application Ser. No. 93232, filed Nov. 25, I970, entitledSki Boot Toe Fixture, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,085.

The present invention relates to a metal fitting for a ski and moreparticularly relates to a ski boot toe fixture.

A ski boot toe fixture is usually fixed to the upper surface of a ski inorder to settle a ski boot on the ski in cooperation with a ski bootheel binding which is also fixed to the ski. In a conventionally knownski boot toe fixture, there is provided a base plate to be fixed to aski and a turnable member for holding the boot toe which is turnablyprovided on the base plate. A press connecting means, including, forexample, a steel ball and the turnable member. According to this knownstructure, the turnable member turns laterally for disengagement fromthe ski boot toe to protect a skier from accidents such as a sprain,when unreasonable force, stronger than the predetermined strength, isapplied to the boot toe. The strength of the force by which the saiddisengagement is performed varies according to the skill of skiers.Usually a screw for adjusting the spring force of the press connectingmeans is provided. In this device, however, adjustment of the springforce is terribly difficult for children and women since that forcebecomes larger as the screw is tightened more and more. On the otherhand, it will cause inconvenience to purposely carry a means forscrewing the screw. This device has another disadvantage that it isdifficult to adjust the spring force accurately since the adjustinglength is relatively short.

It is the objective of the present invention to provide a ski boot toefixture which is easy to adjust and is adjustable accurately over a widerange.

According to the present invention, the ratio of the space between theboot toe received by a toe holding member and a connecting pin (fulcrum)to the space between the line of action of the spring force and saidturnable pin, i.e., leverage, is adjusted instead of adjusting thespring force. By this construction, adjustment of the force by which theboot toe is released can be ad justed easily in a wide range.

As for the disengagement of the boot toe, it is advantageous for a boottoe holding means to be turned in a small radius of turning, as the boottoe maybe thrust obliquely forward in that case. On the other hand, the

small radius of turning of the toe holding means may cause difficultiesin obtaining accurate adjustments of the force, by which the boot toe isreleased, by varying the leverage. The present invention solves thisparadox by providing another connecting pin arranged near the endportion of the turnable member to constitute the axis of turning of thetoeholding means, which second connecting pin is apart from theconnecting pin constituting fulcrum of leverage. Thus the radius of thetoe holding means becomes small, while the adjustment length is keptsufficiently long.

A fuller understanding of the present invention and its objectives andfeatures may be had from the following detailed description of preferredembodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which thesimilar parts are represented by the same reference numerals.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view of the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention prior to its assembly; and

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view of the same after its assembly.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ski boot toe fixturecomprises basically a base plate 10, a turnable member 20, a topcovering. member 60 for holding the boot toe, a press connecting means30, a first connecting pin 40, and a second connecting pin 64.

The base is provided with a pair of through holes 1 I. The base 10 isadapted to be fixed on the upper sur face of the ski by means of woodscrews (not shown) which penetrates through the holes 11.

The turnable member 20 comprises a casing enclosing a hollow space 28.

The first press connecting means 30 comprises a steel ball 31 and aspring 32 for pressing the ball 31, which are housed within thecylindrical housing member 34, as shown best in FIG. 2.

The connecting pin 40, is settled immovable and the press connectingmeans 30 is movable relative to the connecting pin. For this purpose,the bottom end portion of the pin 40 is secured and fixed to the bottomsurface of the base 10 after it is penetrated through a hole of the base10. The turnable member is provided with a bearing hole pemiitting thepin 40 to penetrate through, whereby the turnable member 20 is turnablearound the fixed pin 40, on the base 10. The independent cylindricalmember 34 enclosing the steel ball 31, spring 32 constituting the secondpress connecting means is arranged within the hollow interior 28 of theturnable member 20. In order to move the press connecting means 30lengthwise in the hollow interior of the turnable member 20, a feedscrew 50 having an enlarged head 51 is inserted successively through afront end hole 24 of the turnable member 20, a pair of holes 36 of thecylindrical member 34 and a second hole of the turnable member 20. Thefeed screw 50 has an engaging ring at its end which is fitted on thescrew shown in FIG. 2 so that the screw 50 may not slip out.

The space between the boot toe and the connecting pin 40 and thepressing force of the steel ball 31, delivered from the spring 32, arerespectively fixed. Therefore, as the space between the pin 40 and thesteel ball 31 becomes larger by moving the cylindrical member 34 awayfrom the pin 40, by means of the feed screw having the enlarged head 51,a larger force is required to disengage the ski boot toe, so that theboot toe becomes hard to be disengaged in proportion to said space.

In the preferred embodiment show in FIGS. 1 and 2, the connecting pin 40attached to the base plate 10 is turnably engaged in a through hole 29of the turnable member 20. A top covering member 60, having a toeholding means 62, is pivotly attached on the turnable member 20 andturnably fixed thereto by means of a second connecting pin 64, which isarranged adjacent the rear end of the turnable member 20.

A steel ball 31 of the second press connecting means, which is movablewithin a hole 28 of the turnable member 20, is fitted in an elongateddepression 63 (groove) provided on the bottom surface of the foreportion 61 of the top covering to properly connect the turnable member20 and the top covering 60. The connecting 3. pin 40 is provided with ablind hole 47 adjacent its rear bottom portion. A spring 48 and a steelball 49, constituting a first press connecting means, are inserted inthe hole 47, and the steel ball 49 is fitted in a depression 70 of thetumable member 20 to hold the same just parallel to'the base.

In this embodiment the steel ball is pressed by the spring 32 containedin the cylindrical member 34. The cylindrical member 34 is moved forwardor rearward by turning the feed screw 50 through the medium of theenlarged head 51, thereby freely varying the space between theconnecting pin 40 and the steel ball 31, to thereby adjust the force bywhich the boot toe is released.

In this preferred embodiment, the engagements between the turnablemember 20 and the top covering 60 and between the base plate and thetumable member 20, by means of the respective steel balls 31 and 49, arebroken when unreasonable force stronger than the predetermined strengthis applied to the boot toe. At this time, the tumable member 20 isturned rightwardly or leftwardly around the connecting pin 40 and thetop covering 60 is turned around the second connecting pin 64.Therefore, the boot toe holding means 62 is turned around the second pinwhich is arranged near the rear end of the tumable member 20, and theradius of tuming will be small. The boot toe is thrust forwardlyobliquely relative to the base 10 at the time of disengagement.

The cylindrical member 34 has a protrusion 38 show ing the position ofthe cylindrical member 34 through a window 71 of the tumable member 20.

Modifications may be made in the present invention within the scope ofthe subjoined claims.

We claim:

1. A ski boot toe fixture comprising a base adapted to be fixed on theupper surface of a ski and having a vertical pin, a tumable member forholding a boot toe, said tumable member being arranged on said base andtumable around said vertical pin relative to the base, said turnablemember comprising a casing having an interior space, said interior spacebeing longitudinally elongated and extending generally vertically, afirst connecting means interposed between said base and said tumablemember to connect the base and the turnable member by means of resilientpressure, a top covering member having a boot toe holding meanscomprising two outwardly extending arms which extend from the rearportion thereof, said top member having a forwardly extending upperportion, said top covering member having a longitudinally extendingdepression formed in the inner surface of said forwardly extending upperportion, means to turnably mount said top covering member to saidcasing, a second connecting means comprising a housing member, a sprigand a pusher, with said spring and at least part of said pusher beingwithin said housing member, said second connection means beingpositioned in said elongated space of said casing of the tumable member,said pusher normally being forced into said depression of said topcovering, and adjusting means consisting of a feed screw which caneffect longitudinal displacement of said housing member within saidinterior space of said casing of the tumable member.

2. A ski boot toe fixture as claimed in claim 1 wherein said firstconnecting means comprises a spring and a pusher inserted in a holeprovided in the rear portion of said vertical pin, said pusher normallybeing forced in a depression of the tumable member.

1. A ski boot toe fixture comprising a base adapted to be fixed on the upper surface of a ski and having a vertical pin, a turnable member for holding a boot toe, said turnable member being arranged on said base and turnable around said vertical pin relative to the base, said turnable member comprising a casing having an interior space, said interior space being longitudinally elongated and extending generally vertically, a first connecting means interposed between said base and said turnable member to connect the base and the turnable member by means of resilient pressure, a top covering member having a boot toe holding means comprising two outwardly extending arms which extend from the rear portion thereof, said top member having a forwardly extending upper portion, said top covering member having a longitudinally extending depression formed in the inner surface of said forwardly extending upper portion, means to turnably mount said top covering member to said casing, a second connecting means comprising a housing member, a sprig and a pusher, with said spring and at least part of said pusher being within said housing member, said second connection means being positioned in said elongated space of said casing of the turnable member, said pusher normally being forced into said depression of said top covering, and adjusting means consisting of a feed screw which can effect longitudinal displacement of said housing member within said interior space of said casing of the turnable member.
 2. A ski boot toe fixture as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first connecting means comprises a spring and a pusher inserted in a hole provided in the rear portion of said vertical pin, said pusher normally being forced in a depression of the turnable member. 